Commonly, the above-mentioned DC-to-AC converters are also referred to as inverters or inverted rectifiers and throughout this application the expressions may be used interchangeably. In general, the converters should exhibit a high degree of efficiency in converting DC-power to AC-power. Typically, the type of converters is required for the power transfer via air-core coil, so-called “coreless transformers.” Such “coreless transformers” may also be implemented in the metal layers of integrated circuits, and, as such, exhibit an acceptable degree of efficiency only starting from an operating frequency of several hundred megahertz.
Generally, in the design of high-frequency converters, the degree of efficiency may be increased by increasing the channel widths of the switching transistors which reduces the on-state resistances. However, in doing so, more power is required for driving the gates of the switching transistors. Thus, the total degree of efficiency exhibits a maximum over varying channel width, the magnitude of which is specific for the used integrated circuit technology. Conventionally, the drivers for the gates of the switching transistors are supplied by the available DC-voltage, and, hence, draw power from the DC-voltage source. As a result, the total degree of efficiency of the DC-to-AC converter is reduced.
Hence, systems and methods for increasing the total degree of efficiency in converting a DC-voltage to an AC-voltage would be desirable. For these or other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.